Well that happened #8: My School Shuts Down for 1 Hour

DISCLAIMER: The things I say in the stories I'm about to tell are all from what I have experienced, felt, or heard. For more accurrate information, I will supply links to news coverage so I don't put any false information here. Ok thanks.

Yesterday ( Tuesday for me), I went to school like a normal day-- well normal for this summer, since I'm taking summer classes. (For some reason, I thought there would be no greater time than taking 2 extremely advanced math classes and a government course?? Yeah, great idea, me...)
Anyways, so I went to school, and I could kinda tell it was going to be a weird day. For one, I'd been sick over the weekend, and I still felt a bit under the weather, ya know? With the sore throat and the headache still following me wherever I went. Also, it didn't help that I hadn't understood how to do HALF of the linear algebra homework from this week so I didn't finish and IT WAS ALSO DUE THAT DAY.... but I digress

So. As I've said 3 times now, I WENT TO SCHOOL. Government went by fine, and by fine I mean I just kinda daydreamed my way through the class, took a pop quiz, and left. I left the classroom only to find that it had started raining heavily outside, and- not wanting to get drenched- I found a cozy nook in the science building at my school and started figuring out the homework. On my way to this cozy nook, I saw these two police guys, you know, just casually roaming the school. I figured they were just two buddy school security guys just doing their jobs. Then while I was sitting doing my homework, they passed by my spot, talking in low voices, and my spot wasn't exactly close to where I'd spotted them in the first place, so I was a bit like "wow what a coincidence." But I kept doing my homework, but I also started imagining things... Like "What if they think I'm a criminal... What if they suspect me of hiding something? OOOOO AM I AND UNDERCOVER SPY??" stuff like that.

So a while goes by, and the SAME POLICE DUDES walk by me a THIRD time. My brain then went crazy coming up with wild stories to fit my situation. It also didn't help that the rain hadn't really let up, and it was about time for me to go to my linear algebra class. While I was packing up, I got a text from my school's emergency notifications system telling me to leave all buildings and to avoid parking structures. At first I thought that maybe there was a flash flood warning or something, or maybe the weather was getting bad.... but then I came to my senses and realized that if weather WAS getting bad, they would not be sending texts warning people to leave the safety of a building. So, I was utterly confused, but since I didn't really know what was happening, I figured I'd go to my class and see if anyone knew anything there.

Then, just as I was about to leave, my friend Destiny walked by, and we were both suprised to see each other, since neither of us were usually in that part of campus. I asked her if she got the text about the evacuation, but she didn't know what it was about either. So then I figured I'd continue with my plan and go to class to ask the teacher.
I started walking down the walkway by the student union, and somehow by some sort of miracle, met my professor walking the same way, so I asked "do you know what's going on?" He also didn't know. Secretly I'd hoped he'd give me some direction such as "oh you should evacuate and go home" or even "lets go to class anyway", but no such luck, he just told me that his email was down so he was confused and that he was extremely confused. He explained his woes about how he couldn't send or recieve emails, and how he'd contacted the help desk, who then directed him to HR, who then directed him to an office, who then.... Well you get the idea. We walked and talked, until we reached a crowd of people out side the student services building, when an official looking lady came out and said "Everyone needs to leave. Get off campus and go home."

So, then my professor and I walked and then parted ways, and I found my friend Destiny again, and asked if she wanted to come home with me since I'd gotten the idea that something dangerous was going on. I'd heard the words "bomb threat" somewhere, and was eager to leave in case anything bad happened.
Her and I walked to my car, and we drove to my house. The traffic out of school was absolutely terrible. It was slow and it was still raining. While I drove Destiny looked up news, and apparently there WAS a bomb threat and we even saw a news helecopter over the school.

THEN, would you believe it, halfway home, everyone got a text saying "All clear, please resume normal activity." Turns out, as Destiny later told me, the bomb threat was a HOAX??
I was having a bad day though, so I just continued driving, and went all the way home. I thought- screw it my homework is in pretty bad shape, I'm having a terrible stressful day, I'm gonna go home. Besides, there'd been a bomb threat for a little, so no one could blame me if I didn't go to class or take my quiz, or turn in my homework.

Destiny and I arrived to my house, and I settled in -snacks and all- and prepared for an afternoon of studying for an exam I had the next day. Then right when I was about to begin, I got an email from the professor saying that class was still gonna continue and that problem session would also not be cancelled.

I just about cried then. I didn't want to go back, I didn't want to sit for two hours doing straight math, then take a quiz. I just didn't. But, there'd been an email, so no excuse. So I made my way back to school completely dejected.

Well guys. That was my day. I got my grades back-- 21/40 pts on my homework and a 19/20 on my quiz. Quiz.... Welll Ok. Homework? RIP.

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QUICK PSA:

I've decided that I've outgrown this blog. I am currently working on constructing a new one somewhere else. I'm thinking I want to dedicate it to what I think is my new and improved aesthetic (emphasis on I think...). Also, I'm trying to organize and be more what I want my ideal person to be. Maybe a little TMI, but I have hopes for the future, especially this coming fall semester.

So, yes, look for a post in the future redirecting you to my new space. It might be soon, it might be in a year- with my procrastination...who knows. YOU WILL IF YOU UH CHECK HERE ONCE IN A WHILE ;) ;)

I love you guys very very much (the maybe like 2 of you who read these...)

Alexis

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Links for news stories:
http://www.wfaa.com/news/ut-dallas-bomb-threat-was-a-hoax/452505230
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/news/2017/06/27/ut-dallas-campus-evacuated-bomb-threat
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2017-06-27/university-of-texas-at-dallas-orders-evacuation-after-bomb-threat

Missed Opportunities

Just imagine, for a moment, that you are standing in a grocery store. You're wearing your favorite blue t-shirt that has the letters K-R-O-G-E-R embroidered on the short sleeve, and you're standing behind a cash register (Yes, you are a cashier, no it's not really important to the story.)

You are monotonously sliding things across the scanner while making idle conversation with the customer in front of you. It seems like a normal day.

Alex From Target walks by.

You make some more idle conversation with the customer. And finally they leave. (And of course they are extremely satisfied with their shopping experience because you are a wonderful cashier!)

"OMG OMG OMFFFGGGGG!!!! THAT WAS ALEX FROM TARGET! AlEx fROm tARGeT JUsT walKED By!!!!! DIDYOUSETHAT?!?!" (exclaims a courtesy clerk who has run all the way from the other end of the check out area)

The answer was no. You didn't. Because you were imagining you were me, and you were being a good cashier while you just missed the opportunity of a life time to get your best friend an autograph from a teenager who was on the Ellen Show because he got famous for BEING A CASHIER.


Moral of the story: Life is full of missed opportunities and sometimes you just gotta accept that you will be disappointed that you go to school a block away from the school that Alex From Target supposedly goes to, you even take a language arts class at said school, and you've been to that Target so many times because you just love Target so much, but you're never ever gonna meet the legendary Alex From Target.

Well that happened #7 : A Long Story

Well hello!

I should have a well thought out reason for my prolonged absence from this blog... but I don't. Basically I was busy until school ended, right after which we went to St. Louis for a couple of days. Then we came home, and I went straight to guard camp for a four days, packed for two days, then took off on a flight to Taiwan. There was definitely plenty of downtime for blog-writing, but, haha, that did not happen.

Normally, when I say "well it's kind of a long story" I usually actually mean "well I'm too lazy to explain it all so I'm going to say its a long story to avoid talking or texting." But, today is different. It really is a long story, so get comfortable and lets get started.

This the story of my travels from Dallas to Kaohsiung. 

On the day we were to leave, we all woke up at 3am to catch a taxi to the DFW airport. Emma and I were to take off at 6, so we had to be to the airport by 4am. Mom and Ben were on a different flight path that took off at around 9. I think.

Anyway, we got to the airport, and got in the great long line to check in. Only to find out that we were supposed to be in a different line. Yay us. So finally we got checked in and went to the security line which was even longer than the check in line. Emma and I were literally standing in the security line for like half an hour. Finally we got through and went to our gate. This is where the first of many mishaps happened.

We got to our gate, and as the ticket lady checked our passports and ticket, she told us that we needed a visa to get into shanghai, where we had a connecting flight. Firstly, we weren't even going to Shanghai on that flight. We were going to Toronto. Also we were never told that we needed a visa to take a connecting flight. Emma and I were a bit freaked out. I talked to the lady while Emma called mom, and in the end, the lady called someone higher up and found out that we really didn't need a visa.

So finally we get on the plane, and I realized: oh no, the lady took one of my boarding passes.

Naturally I kind of freaked out some more. I talked to a flight attendant who told me that I could print a new one as long I was checked in.

*HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF*

From there it was smooth sailing to Toronto. Yaaay. The connecting time in Toronto was really not bad. Emma and I played solitaire on the airport ipads, ate some snacks, and played other card games. We were there for about three hours, and then we boarded the plane for Shanghai. WHOO HOOO!!!

On that flight, things went relatively smoothly. We didn't crash and that's something. Normally I'd try to be optimistic about things, but since this is all about how rough this trip is, I have to inform you that the guy in front of us smelled like Asian farts. Good thing my sister was smart enough to bring scented wax cubes and we just waved them around, and it smelled like a mix of fruit and gummy bears. Then, we found old gum stuck to the underside of my arm rest. I was gripping the armrest to bend down and pick something up, and I felt it. Not really sticky anymore, but definitely squishy. I turned to Emma and asked "what should I dooo??? I don't want to wake HIM up" (we were the inner two seats, and there was a guy on the end of our row of seats. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. My germaphobe self was dying of panic, so we woke up the guy from his sleep so I could go wash my hands. On my way to the bathroom, I informed this tall and rather round flight attendant about the gum, and he was so surprised. His solution was to get a plastic bag and tape it to the armrest to cover up the gum. I feel so bad, because while he was taping up the seat, all three of us in that row had to wait. I just feel bad for that one guy. I made him wake up, then made him stand for like 10 minutes while the flight attendant struggled to tape up the seat.
Overall it was just a looong flight. Normally a flight from North America to China goes over Canada, Alaska, then down through Russia, onto China. NOOOO. We had to fly all the way over the north pole, over Russia, down through Russia, THEN down to Shanghai. IT WAS THE ABSOLUTE LONGEST FLIGHT EVER!!!!!!

So finally we land in Shanghai right? It just so happens that my dad's flight back to the US from China was supposed to take off within the hour that Emma and I were supposed to land, so we figured we could go visit his gate and say hello. I haven't even seen him in like two weeks so we thought it'd be nice right? Wrong. We landed about 20 minutes later than scheduled (I blame that RIDICULOUS path we took), so we were already short on time. THEN we found out that we had to actually exit the airport, get our luggage, go through customs, then check back in to get to the leaving gates. I wanted to cry a little.
If you think that's rough, it doesn't end there. Firstly we had to get though the arrivals gates where the security guys make sure you have all the right documents. We had no Visa (remember?) so we had to explain to our guy that we were only there for a connecting flight. It took like 20 minutes of asking other officers and figuring things out, but we finally got a temporary pass to get out. Fortunately our officer police guy was really chill, and wasn't mean like some of the others.
We then head to the baggage claim. Back in Dallas, my mom had decided to check in the HEAVY luggage with us, because she didn't think she'd be able to haul it around with a sick Ben in tow for three hours. That left Emma and I to lug them around for two hours in the Pudong Airport. We went to find the check-in counter. We were then told that it wouldn't be open for another two hours. YAY US. In the end, we got checked in and got back though security.
We went to find our gate, which was gate 82. We sat there for a while, I looked around, and Emma took a nap. THEN if you'll believe it, they changed our gate. So we had to gather our stuff and pretty much zombie walk to the new gate which was on the lowest floor. I tried to stay awake, but I ended up falling asleep too. Finally we were called to board our plane, but to actually get to our plane, we had to get on this dinky bus then catch a ride to  the plane where we would get on some stairs to get into the actual plane. AND IT WAS RAINING. such is my life

We got on the flight, and I wanted to stay awake until we were up in the air, but I was so wiped out. I just crashed. I woke up some time later, and was really confused to find that we were STILL on the ground. As it turns out, our flight had been delayed for 40 minutes, but at least I'd woken up as we were about to take off. I have a thing about watching the ground when we take off. ITS JUST SO SATISFYING... (okay I'll stop being weird now lol)

Finally, we landed in Taiwan, and we had to get to the arrivals gate. We then were filling out an arrival card, and found out that we needed to know an address or a phone number, but Emma and I are Chinese illiterate, and we didn't know any phone numbers. In the end, I resigned myself to using the ever-expensive international data to give my mom a call. I dialed the number, hoping and praying it would work, because it was supposedly for US calls only, and my mom was supposed to be in Taiwan by then. AND WHAT IF SHE WAS STILL ON A FLIGHT?! I'd be stuck there for a while!!
So I called, and to my surprise, she actually picked up. I quickly said "Hey mom, I need a phone number real quick!!" She then said to me "I'm still in San Diego."
I just about died then. Of all things to go wrong and THAT happens. She gave me the phone number, said international calls were expensive (like I didn't know already) and said she'd explain when she finally arrived.

So finally we get out of the arrivals gate, get our luggage, and leave the airport with our grandma.

I later gathered from my relatives that they had misplaced Ben's passport, but they got it all figured out. She arrived the night after we did thank goodness.

almost 25 hours of travel time...
It was really eventful, but we're good now!!

My summer's been pretty full of excitement thus far, and it's been pretty fun. I hope y'all are having a good vacation!

~Alexis

Elinor Appreciation

Today is a very SPECIAL DAY. (Okay well, I mean now, it's a special night. . .)

My instinct at the moment is to declare that I do NOT do mushy, emotional, pieces of writing, but the truth is. . . I really do. (I mean, for heaven's sake, I spent 2 hours writing appreciation notes for everyone on my color guard team instead of doing homework)

But today is special because (drum roll please. . .) IT IS ELINOR'S BIRTHDAY!!!

Now you may be wondering: who is this person? This "Elinor" you speak of?
To answer that, I say: She is the kindest, most wonderful human being on earth. I am at a complete loss for how to put in to words just how much this girl means to me.

Five years ago, a new girl showed up at school, and was, by some coincidence, in nearly every single one of my classes. I normally kept to myself and didn't talk to people, but I was feeling especially daring one day. I just up and said "Okay, I'm going to make a new friend today."
Next thing I know, I'm telling this new girl to come see my choir show, and figuring out how we can hang out, and since then, things have gone farther. A LOT farther.

We've shared everything from muddy flag football to noodles coming out of noses, and somehow, it made for one of the greatest friendships on the planet earth.

This past year, I left my hometown, and some of the best friends a girl couldn't even dream of having. I will be honest: I cried. A lot (WHAT, don't judge, I'm a crier. . .) Normally, I cry in private. It's not something I like to share, and crying is like my way of venting. Some like punching pillows, others like yelling a lot. I like crying. Alone.

But when I really needed it, my best friend got on her Nokia brick (an ancient cell phone that is shaped like a brick, and is somehow just as tough. . .) and talked me through some of the hardest times I've ever had in my life, and I'm MOST grateful for what she's helped me through.

So.

Thank you, Elinor, for being you. For being my friend. For everything.

<3Achan

Well that Happened #6: Fancy Bed Shenanigans

What a day.

The AP Physics exam is tomorrow. Have I studied? No. Will I fail? Most likely. Do I care? Hard to say...

The thing about studying is that I don't know where to begin. For example today, I had "Late Arrival" to school, because there was a US History EOC test and a Biology EOC test, both of which I've already taken. So, I was allowed to stay at home until noon.

I woke up and my first thought was "WHYYYYYYY" (I forgot to turn off my 7:30 alarm)

My next thought was "I should get up and study. Mmmmm. I think I'll make cookies instead."

I spent the morning watching YouTube and making cookies. Very yay, much productive.

The day went actually quite smoothly. I went to the last two classes of my day, and we did nothing at all really... So I came home determined to put some effort into studying for Physics.

In reality, I came home and laid on my bed and thought about life for what I thought was 20 minutes. It was, in fact, actually 2 hours. I think stress does that to me. Time passes by way too quickly for my tastes... and before I know it, I'm sitting in a testing room wondering how I got there.

So then I ended up just eating dinner and then getting drawn into a long conversation with my sister and mom. Somehow, we migrated into my mom's bedroom. Here is where my night really takes a left turn.

My mom has a fancy bed. You can use a remote to change it's shape. You can elevate your head, your feet and get fancy bed massages. It's great. My siblings and I laid on the bed while messing around with said fancy bed, and then my mom joined us. It was a TON of fun and all thoughts of Physics completely evaporated from my brain.

Suddenly, the bed stopped working. It got stuck in a position where the head end was completely bent up and the foot end was also completely pushed up. Imagine a sandwich halfway folded up or a trampoline with an elephant in the middle. That's what it was like. We tried everything to fix it, but in the end I got on the floor to take a good look. I found the power cable and followed it to where it started, but I couldn't reach all the way, so I had to crawl under the bed.

I don't know if any of you have seen that vine where the cat completely buries itself into a couch by climbing in the teensiest hole ever. That is what it was like. I wriggled under the bed, got stuck and had to wait for my sister and mom to pull the bed away to free me. It was great.

After a lot of yanking at wires and such, we found that the power cable had been tightly wrapped around the part of the bed frame that expanded to lift up the head end. We untangled it- took forever- and in the end, realized that there was a cut in the wire. We think that because it was tangled and stretched so tight the metal frame tore a hole in the cable. I tried to put it back together and ended up blowing a fuse, so then we gave up. 

After fixing the fuse, we resigned ourselves and just said that dad could fix it next time he visits... My mom's bed is now stuck in that position, and she has to sleep in the guest bedroom. Also, no studying got done.

What a productive night, eh?

I'd better get to bed now, before I make anymore stupid decisions.

Goodnight,

<3 Alexis

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Dear Friend,

Today was one of those days where I just wanted to bang my head against a brick wall. 

This morning I woke up late. No later than I would have expected though, I usually wake up "late." I try to be up early enough to you know, properly pack my things and eat breakfast, but as per the norm, I ended up just shoving all papers in sight into my backpack and walking out the door with an apple croissant in my hand. (The ones from Sam's Club are DELISH). 

I arrived at school on time, thankfully, and my morning started off with out a hitch. In AP Lang, we did corrections for a multiple choice practice. To be honest, none of us really tried. I put in minimal effort into the corrections, and we suspect that the answer key is wrong in some places anyways. (But, as the teacher is pregnant, and has officially gone on maternity leave, we'll just forgive her.)

Midway through corrections, my nose spontaneously decided to erupt like the Mt. Vesuvius of Pompeii. That is to say, I had blood pouring out of my nose like nobody's business. So then naturally I kind of freaked out a little. All I had was the little wad of toilet paper from my purse to save me, and I just sat there like "I'm bleeding. I'm bleeding. I'm bleeding." Blood dripped on the table, on the chair, in my purse, on my sweater... everywhere. In the end, my classmate, Michelle, kindly walked me down to the nurses office. The nurse informed me that the proper way to stop a nosebleed is to pinch it and sit for a while. Good to find out I've been doing all wrong my whole life. Especially since that was literally the 4th nosebleed with in two days...

After that, I left the nurse's only to find that everyone was heading off to activity period, and I completely forgot where I was supposed to go. See, we have this thing called "Activity Period" where we go to a classroom or the library, cafeteria, or gym for like 30 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

On the bright side, Michelle totally finished the last question of my corrections for me (she is my HERO). On the down side, I was completely dazed, and decided to just go to the library. I got there only to be told by my sister that I actually was supposed to be in the gym. But, meh, at that point I really didn't care.

Second period came and went, all was well... and then math class happened. Firstly, I got there and thought I'd lost my phone. Freaked out a little, but then got distracted by the fact that we had a test in front of us. I'm pretty sure I got NONE of those questions right. By lunch, I was completely drained. Not to mention, that we'd only taken PART 1 of the test. So after discovering that my phone was NOT where I thought it was. I just resigned my self to wallowing in my own despair. 

We returned to math class where I just completed the rest of the test without any enthusiasm.

Fourth period was okay. Which I guess meant that it was relatively awful, but by this time in the day, I JUST COULDN'T anymore. At least I found out that my phone was actually in my locker.

By the time I got home, I was ready to take a nap for two weeks, but NOOOOO. My water bottle spilled inside my purse. It was great. Then I had to quickly scarf down some macaroni, get dressed in nice clothes and go back to school for our school's NHS induction ceremony. 

From here, the story gets boring, because, well, as much as I complained about today, the Induction Ceremony was actually quite fun. I've already been inducted (last year) but I went in to help out. There was cake and friends, so, I'm okay now.

I think the greatest mistake of today has been deciding to write this post instead of doing homework, but my attitude today is just "Gah, screw this, Imma do what I want."

Great day eh?

<3 Alexis

Well that Happened #5: Where ya at brah?

Wasting time is my expertise. I just spent a good hour watching YouTube.

I should probably get a move on, and finish filming a video for my band leadership application, but... I said I'd put this story out there, so here goes.

So a couple days ago, I came home after school pretty late (like around 7pm). I came home and just sat around in our front room eating a snack when my mom called to tell me to help her get stuff out of the car. "I'm home," she said.

I looked out onto the driveway and she wasn't there, so I said in to the phone "ummm what."
She just told me to "come out side and help!"

Just at this moment, a boy from school came walking down the street, but I didn't realize he was there, so I said very loudly into the phone "Yo, Motha! Wer ya at brah?!" (You know, cuz I'm thug like that)

This kid just gave me the weirdest look. Even worse, my mom pulled up around the driveway, so he stood there, awkwardly waiting for her to drive past. I just told him to go ahead.

Good thing too, because then my mom told me to ASK FOR HIS ADDRESS. She doesn't seem to understand that I am an awkward teenage girl. He is a teenage boy. One doesn't simply ASK FOR A BOY'S ADDRESS.

I mean if I had cookies and was a middle aged lady interested in meeting the neighbors... maybe. BUT I AM AN ANTI SOCIAL GIRL WHO'S ON THE INTERNET ALL DAY.

I hope that ya'll have a good day. And aren't pestered to ask for addresses by your mothers.

<3 Alexis